Here’s another battle won by Windows Phone and Nokia as they battle it out in the smartphone wars. Britvic, a leading soft drink company in the UK, is dumping their BlackBerry devices and handing out Nokia devices for their employees. Few more details after the break.

Britvic, by volume and retail sales value, is second largest soft drink producer in the UK. They’re responsible for famous brands like Tango, J20, and Robinsons. Britvic is also responsible for a variety of beverages franchised from PepsiCo, including: 7 UP, Pepsi, Lipton Ice Team, Mountain Dew, and Gatorade. If you’re in the UK and drink something besides beer, there’s a good chance Britvic had a hand in it (not literally, ew). They’re also rolling out 800 Nokia Lumia 720s to employees as business smartphones.

Why Windows Phone and Nokia? The company cites the easy syncing with the rest of Microsoft’s enterprise products like Exchange and SharePoint. And of course, the ability to access and edit Office documents. Here’s what John Armstrong, head of IT Shared Services for Britvic, had to say about the switch:

"We were looking for a business smartphone that could easily integrate with our existing Microsoft infrastructure. Nokia Lumia and the Windows Phone fit the bill perfectly, allowing our people to do much more than just check their email and make calls. The training Nokia offered our staff has meant they were quickly up and running with the devices, and Windows Phone 8 gives a consistent interface which is simpler to support."

Sounds like a winning combo to us John.

This isn’t the first time that BlackBerry has been dropped for Windows Phone and it probably won’t be the last. Just a few days ago we learned about O2 and Telefonica doing the same by giving employees Windows Phone devices and dropping BlackBerry.

What do you guys think about Britvic going to Windows Phone and Nokia?

Seems so, unfortunately. I was hoping for a four way tie between iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry (IMO, competition is always good!). Though, has long has there's more than two major OS's I guess competition will still be there.

When I saw there were no responses 800/720 confusion. By the time I log in and submit the comment, 7 ppl replied pretty much at the same time. :) Neverthless blackhawk556 got the message loud and clear :)

OMG! You guys are freaking butt hurt. Get your thong out of your pussy crack and let it go. Look at how many people have already have already have mentioned that it was the 720. You guys need to chill out lol hahahhahaha

The Exchange/Office integration is an advantage that Microsoft must not underplay. It's an advantage no other mobile OS has and I don't think they made as big a deal of it as they should when WP7 was released. It should be a no-brainer for organizations with Exchange and Sharepoint.

Exactly! It's about time that MS upgrades calendar and tasks to synch categories as it used to be with windows mobile! A business phone must synch categories! A business man needs a full featured GTD device on full synch with his desktop outlook. Calendar and tasks on WP as they are now are only a joke! Please MS wake up!!

HTC, this should be an awakening. When you add undeniable support, ppl, in this case companies will buy your product. There's no difference between the two offerings (Lumias, 8x's, etc) except support. Wake the f*** up!

Friends and family of those 800 employees will see a Windows Phone/Lumia and talk about it.
And therefore the chance of one of those friends and family buying a Windows Phone/Lumia, has become much bigger.
In a lot of cases: seeing = buying.

I like the fact that Nokia goes in and trains their potential customers. This is how you win a battle, based on functionality and ease of use, not simply providing employees with something just because everyone else has it or because it has Candy Crush & Instagram : )

My company supplied me with a NL 920. I have a personal NL920. When my coworkers saw them and had a chance to actually use WP8, they loved it. One actually replaced his personal iPhone 4 with 928. Others a looking to upgrade now that Sprint has WP8.

Right now its already fairly solid. If you have a SharePoint infrastructure, the vpn element doesn't really hamper your rollout. Things like Company Hub and good Exchange support, and great Lync support right now, make it a good device for these under 5000 companies.

Are Microsoft/Nokia helping these companies with Company Hub developments and extending Sharepoint deployments to Windows Phone? That's the question I always have with these stories, maybe you cam ask them for use?

I know of a hotel management chain that has more then 60 hotels under there care that are also ditching Blackberry. Unfortunately they are switching to the little green robot though. The management has said its the most secure platform.

720 is a good choice for business as they really do not need all the consumer features. The excellent battery life and weight combined with the Microsoft integration would of been enough. However I bet the bosses get the 92x or even 102x as a differentiator.